D.C. Protesters Rally for Various Causes

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20040424/ap_on_re_us/summit_demonstrators

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Peaceful and festive, a crowd of about 1,000 marched past the offices of multinational corporations they hold responsible for exploiting the poor, chanting "shame, shame" along the way.

The demonstrations are a spring ritual tied to the meetings of the World Bank (news - web sites) and International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) and, as always, the causes were varied. Protesters came to shout against the U.S. occupation of Iraq (news - web sites), sweatshop labor abroad, the policies of President Bush (news - web sites) and much else.

"It's important to send a message in opposition to the poverty and misery that institutions like the World Bank and IMF force around the world," said David Thurston, 25, of New York City, an organizer from the International Socialist Organization.

"But it's also critical to connect opposition to corporate greed with the movement against the war, for abortion rights and for gay marriage."





Protestors file down a street near the World Bank (news - web sites) and IMF (news - web sites) headquarters in downtown Washington Saturday, April 24, 2004, during the 2004 annual spring meetings. The crowd rallied against trade deals, Third World debt and war, the U.S. occupation of Iraq (news - web sites), sweat shop labor abroad and the policies of President Bush (news - web sites). (AP Photos/Lawrence Jackson)